Rob Neyer| Fox Sports- I do think it’s not too soon to talk about the Mets, though. They were, as everyone knows, a completely different team, performance-wise, after trading for Yoenis Céspedes. But Céspedes is free to sign with whomever he likes this winter. As is Daniel Murphy. The twin departures of Céspedes and Murphy would create a couple of holes in the lineup. Sure, you can always shift Wilmer Flores to second base, with Ruben Tejada reassuming his duties at shortstop. I’m going to guess the Mets are most aggressive this winter. The bullpen might not be the Mets’ biggest need this winter, it’s almost certainly the easiest to address.(Chris Soto: I see 3 specific areas that the Mets need to address this off-season. A) Who plays 2B? Do you re-sign Murphy? Does Wilmer Flores slide over from SS? or do they think Dilson Herrera is ready? B) Improve the middle IF defense. The lack of defense was exposed by the Royals in the World Series and needs to be addressed. Sliding Flores over to 2B improves it a bit but using Herrera is even better. As for SS, there aren't really any good defensive free agents. Your best bets are Alexei Ramirez, Ian Desmond, and Asdrubal Cabrera.....all offense oriented guys.)

OFF-SEASON UPDATE

The Mets are prepared to announce that they have signed Manager Terry Collins to a two year contract extension. According to reports, Collins is expected to receive a small bump in pay with the deal set to be announced via press conference today.

Per Adam Rubin via Twitter, The Mets are expected to tender an arbitration contract to RHRP Addison Reed. Reed is forecasted to make ~$5.7M via the arbitration process since his 2015 salary was already reflective of him being a closer. Arbitration can only boost a player's salary not reduce it.

Per Marc Carig via Twitter, With the emergence of Kevin Plawecki and Travis d'Arnaud's struggles controlling the running game, the Mets could look to add some versatility to d'Arnaud's portfolio by introducing him to a second position.

Also from Marc Carig's Twitter feed, the Mets are preparing to offer new contracts to IF Kelly Johnson and LHRP Jerry Blevins. The Mets were happy with Johnson as the versatile utility bench player and would like him back in that role for 2016. Meanwhile Blevins was superb as the team high leverage LOOGY until injuries unfortunately shelved him for the season. They would look to use him in the same capacity as well.

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It will be a fascinating offseason. I'd still like them to consider the concept of resigning Murphy, putting him at first, and trading Duda if a strong trade package can be found. Murphy can switch to other positions as needed, Duda cannot. d'Arnaud could pick up some 1B against lefties. I think he and d'Arnaud would make a good plate tandem in that sense, if they had 200 starts to split between the 2 of them. And Dom Smith is on his way (I think in late 2016).

Definitely bring back Reed. He was really quality, and could close if Familia ever went out due to injury.

Cespedes? He got cheaper based on his play the last 6 weeks? Is he the best option available? He may just be.

I want to keep emphasizing that they not go cheap this off season. You build a 95-100 win team, it will draw like mad, and the $$$ will flow in. Ownership should invest in quality.

Cespedes is good but not great. I think he could be great if he learned how to shorten his swing in a 2 strike count. No need for the home run swing every time out. My offseason prediction would go something like this.

Sign Cespedes for 6years $120 milTrade Granderson and Duda (you can probably get something good for them.Sign dexter Fowler for centerfield and move Cespedes to rightTrade for Elvis Andrus and have them take Cuddyers contract back plus prospectsTrade for Joey Votto as long as they provide a good amount of salary relief.So lineup would look like this

Not sure why we want to blow up a team that just made it to the World Series

Without Granderson we don't get anywhere close - keep that in mind, there is no reason to expect his numbers to completely die next year - yes he will be 35, but the guy is in remarkable shape

He isn't perfect by any stretch, but he isn't our biggest problem.

Ditto Duda

Keeping Reed and Johnson is smart.

I love Murphy, but he needs to go - he is 30 and is what he is - Duda is a year younger, has a legitimate power bat and is a much better 1st base defender than Murphy - moving Duda and re-signing Murphy would be a colossal mistake.

Duda is also still pretty cheap comparatively - it definitely isn't worth keeping Murphy over Duda if we have to pay $5-7 million more to do it.

Herrera is ready at 2b - by keeping Johnson and having Flores on the roster we have plenty of insurance.

I would like one of 1 of 2 things:

1) Re-sign Cespedes if the price is right, he has his flaws, but he ties this entire line-up together

2) Sign Heyward - people forget how young he is - still only 25 - yes, his power has dropped, but I think Long can get him back to 25 bombs. With Heyward in RF and Conforto in LF, Grandy could play a decent CF

In either case, Lagares can have his TJ surgery and be back for the second half of the season.